Rabbi Tzvi Klebanow, director of Nahal Haredi, spent last weekend in the metropolitan area gaining awareness and raising funds for the religious Israeli military unit, which recently celebrated its 15th year in operation and includes the recently decorated Netzach Yehuda fighting battalion, the only ultra-orthodox battalion in the Israeli Defense Forces. The Nahal Haredi, he explained, allows religious Israelis to serve in the IDF in an atmosphere conducive to their religious convictions, within a framework that is strictly halachically observant.
The Nahal Haredi has roots in Bergen County, said Henry Orlinsky, a Teaneck resident and board member of American Friends of Nahal Haredi. Orlinsky also serves on the governing board of the Israeli Amuta.
Orlinsky shared that he first met Rabbi Klebanow at a netz (early morning) minyan at the Kotel in Jerusalem, approximately 14 years ago. Klebanow offered him a ride back to his hotel and Orlinsky found out that Rabbi Klebanow and prominent Haredi rabbi Rabbi Moshe Shapiro learned b’chavrusa together at the stoplights while driving. It was the beginning of a long friendship and provides insight as the type of person Rabi Klebanow is.
Learning for the first time about the Nahal Haredi from Klebanow, “I found the idea of the Nahal so unique and was thrilled that something like that could exist, and I imagined everyone would be supportive. I asked Rav Tzvi to meet that same day to hear more about it. I was shocked at the time that not only were very few people supportive but there were many looking to close it,” Orlinsky said.
The unit was founded amid considerable difficulty because of the anger and sometimes outright opposition modern Israelis have against religious Israelis who have historically not gone to the army, not to mention the issues that the haredim have amongst themselves about it. Orlinsky shared some details of the barriers that initially existed when the Nahal Haredi was forming. “The haredi community was not only against it but threatened one of the Gedolei Yisrael who said it was ok for certain type of boys, and pelted his home with stones. The Dati Leumi community would say ‘it is not our issue,’ and the Chiluni community even though it embraced it didn’t see it as an important issue. This was my biggest shock,” Orlinsky said.
However, over the past 15 years, the unit has proved itself and taken its place among all the battalions, having turned itself into a formidable force within the IDF. Netzach Yehuda has recently received an award of excellence from the IDF chief of staff, and won five awards just in the past six months for their performance on the battlefield, Klebanow said.
Klebanow provided an update of the current impact of Nahal Haredi, and shared some details about the reasons for his trip in the United States. “People are not aware of the contribution we’re making,” he said. “It really is something that brings a level of shalom bayis to the state of Israel,” he said.
With over 6,000 young men having passed through the unit, today Nahal Haredi consists of 1,400 soldiers, including a fighting battalion of 600 young men, another 400 in various stages of vocational training, and a program to help young men serve who cannot, for whatever reasons, go into armed combat. The organization also operates an alumni program. The Nahal Haredi is responsible for missions around the Jenin area, and also handles missions in the West Bank.
“Nahal Haredi makes it possible for a young man who comes from the religious community to serve as a combatant, without compromising any religious issues,” said Klebanow. He explained that there is now a large enough percentage of the ultra orthodox community in Israel who wish to go out in the world and get jobs. “To do that, they have to go to the army,” he said. The unit recognizes that in many cases the young men don’t yet have the skills to be fighters, and sometimes don’t have a secular education at all. To that end, one year of the three years required in the army is spent on high school matriculation or vocational training.
The American Friends of Nahal Haredi exists in America to raise funds and awareness for the organization. Klebanow explained that the rabbinic and staff support required for Nahal Haredi is vast, as the young men all are concerned with keeping up with their religious studies and standards. Also, some of the young men are either lone soldiers from Chutz L’Aretz (outside the country), or are effectively lone soldiers because their families have turned their backs on them for going to the army. In both cases, the young men need the support that lone soldiers get from the IDF, such as housing stipends and hosts, but the general IDF services for lone soldiers don’t work for Nahal Haredim because of their standards for modesty. They also require single gender housing. Nahal Haredi additionally supports the soldiers as they make the transition from the army into private life again, and they often require help with job searches or even shidduchim, if their families are not present in their lives.
“I must point out that Rabbi Heshy Billet was one of the earliest supporters and vocal devotees. He would sing its praises and help raise money for it,” said Orlinsky. “At approximately the same time, two major figures in the American Jewish community took a lead in helping propel the Nahal: Dovid Hager from Los Angeles and Steve Rosedale from Cincinnati.
“The ability I had to work under them has been a unique opportunity, and their influence in American and in Israeli society has been immeasurable,” Orlinsky said.
“A great amount of the credit needs to go to the founding rabbanim in the Bar Chaim family of which Rav Chaim Bar Chaim is still a key figure working with the soldiers on a daily basis. Rabbi Tzvi Klebanow took an idea and a small organization that has become one of Israel’s most important units in the defense of the state of Israel and its citizens. Only those who work closely with him know the personal sacrifice of committing his life to this cause,” Orlinsky said.
by Elizabeth Kratz
